South African Consumers’ Complaint Patterns

Abstract

Service failure is an inevitable part of business. Customers sometimes engage in complaint behaviour as a way of expressing feelings of dissatisfaction following poor service episodes. When complaining, consumers engage in various forms of post-purchase behaviour, such as voice response actions, third-party actions, and private actions. However the level of consumer politeness may influence the manner in which customers complain. It is important for businesses to understand the antecedents and consequences of complaint behaviour, so as to develop complaint resolution strategies. Against this background, the purpose of this study is to discover the relationship between consumer politeness and consumer complaint behaviour. A measuring instrument developed by Lerman (2006) was adapted and used to collect data from consumers in Pretoria. Results suggest a three-dimensional consumer complaint framework. Demographic profiles do not seem to correlate with the level politeness suggesting that customers across the board engage in complaint behaviour. While there is a critical mass of consumer complaint behaviour research in the developed world, in developing nations such as South Africa, research in this area is still limited. Given the significance of consumer complaints, this study could provide useful insights for both academics and practitioners.